


Explosion

by RealityXIllusion



Series: Gintama-One Shots [2]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Explosions, Gen, Hurt!Gintoki, Hurt!Katsura, Kondo understands, Protective Gintoki, Sakata Gintoki & Katsura Kotarou-Centric, Trapped Katsura, building on fire, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:48:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21882526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityXIllusion/pseuds/RealityXIllusion
Summary: Bombs and Katsura came hand in hand nowadays, explosions of any kind weren't as surprising now that Gintoki got used to it. It was a different matter entirely when one explosion leads to the opposite of what anyone expected.
Relationships: Katsura Kotarou & Sakata Gintoki
Series: Gintama-One Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576336
Comments: 3
Kudos: 112





	Explosion

Ever since their being reacquainted, it seemed as though every meeting afterward, in one way or another, involved an explosion of some kind. Though it was to be expected with Katsura being a terrorist now, even if he denied it. Bringing with it more trouble and the arrival of some members of the Shinsengumi as well. All in all, nothing he wants to get involved with and yet he always winds up in the middle of everything. Every. Single. Time.

It was all Katsura's fault.

For once, just once in his life, he thought that today would be uneventful. He was on his way home, having stopped by the store to pick up this month's JUMP, and his strawberry milk. It was while walking back that he noticed a commotion further up the street. There was smoke billowing up into the air, and the closer he got, the more debris he noticed on the ground. There was a slew of people, some of the crying out while others stood in solemn silence.

Kept away from getting too close to the scene by caution tape and members of the Shinsengumi.

His eyes searching through the crowd, Gintoki grinned triumphantly as he spotted a familiar face. Okita was standing off to the side, away from the crowd but close to the building. 

"What happened here?"

Okita blinked, "Danna? What are you doing here?"

"Happened to be passing by and saw the mess," Gintoki shrugged, "Figured I'd come to see what happened. Did your bazooka miss that Mayora bastard and hit the building instead?"

"...We were chasing after some members of the Jouishishi. They ran into that building, but before we could follow after them that explosion went off."

Humming in acknowledgment, Gintoki's attention shifted towards the burning building in question. If the Jouishishi were involved and some of them were inside then there was a chance that Katsura was somewhere around the area too…

"Have any of them come out?"

"No one's gone in and no ones come out. The buildings unstable, there's not much we can do at the moment, Danna. We have orders to wait until given the all-clear to move in."

Okita’s attention was drawn away as someone, he couldn’t remember what their name was, came jogging over. Gintoki used the opportunity presented to him to walk off in the opposite direction. He should just walk away… leave the area before things can get any worse but… but there was a chance that Katsura had gone into the building. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Gintoki set his bag down by one of the nearby patrol cars and quickly made his way around to the back of the burning building.

He had an idiot to go find.

Using his sleeve to cover his mouth, Gintoki warily climbed inside through a broken window. Enough of the frame was still intact that he wasn’t worried about the wood giving out under his weight. He was more worried about the fire around him. If no one has left the building since the explosion then they were probably unconscious or worse. If they were still alive then they were probably breathing in nothing but smoke. If he didn't find any survivors and get them out soon then they wouldn't last for much longer. Keeping low to the ground, Gintoki crawled through the room before him. It was once he was absolutely certain that there was no one there, that he left the room to search through the rest of the first floor.

Sighing in annoyance, Gintoki tore his sleeve off before tying it around his mouth and nose. 

Attempting to crawl while holding one arm to his face was taking too much time. Now with the use of both his arms he can move faster. The only reason why he didn’t outright start yelling for Katsura was that he didn’t know if anyone inside was hostile or not. It unbearably hot, and his skin felt as though it was cracking the longer he stayed near the flames but Gintoki kept searching.

The first figure he came across he almost missed. 

Whoever it was, they were laying off to the side, underneath some debris. He knew before even making his way over there that whoever it was laying there wasn't breathing. Not because of the lack of movement but rather the missing skin from the person’s face as their eyes stayed wide and unseeing. Fighting down the urge to gag, Gintoki only relaxed when he saw the short hair and unfamiliar clothing.

It wasn't Katsura.

Four bodies. Four dead bodies. Four times he's had his anxiety shoot through the roof thinking that this was it. That this body was Katsura. That the idiot actually went and got himself killed by acting like a terrorist. He wanted to carry them outside, to let them be covered and taken away but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t waste time dealing with the dead when there was a possibility of someone living waiting for help.

The fifth body he came across wasn't Katsura… but it was breathing.

Gintoki knelt by the body, eyeing the rise and fall of the person's chest in relief. From what he could tell, the guy wasn't too badly injured. He was unconscious, but there weren't any visible wounds that he saw that needed any immediate attention.

He didn't want to stop looking for Katsura… but if he didn't then this person wouldn't last for much longer.

Quickly pulling off his yukata, Gintoki wrapped it over the person, covering as much of their skin as possible.

They didn't make any noise as he carefully lifted them up.

The smoke was so thick, that he could barely see two feet in front of him. He stumbled, fearing for a moment that he would fall, before quickly regaining his balance and rushing toward one of the closest openings he could find. The sudden change from a smoke-filled room to the open air had him coughing harshly into the elbow of his arm as he walked further from the building. He noticed a few heads turning in his direction and it almost sounded like someone was calling out to him, but he paid it no heed as he took off back into the building.

He hoped whoever was out there would see the guy he carried out and get him to a medic in time. 

In his haste to get back inside, he forgot to crouch down, so the moment he reentered the building he got a faceful of smoke. Choking, Gintoki quickly dropped down to his knees, pressing his head into the flooring as he attempted to steady his breathing. Three more times he did this. Three times he found someone alive, but it still wasn’t Katsura, and he carried them outside before rushing back in. Crawling further and further into the building and slowly inching his way to the next level.

He had seen Yamazaki trying to reach him the last time he’d left the building but Gintoki darted around him and ran back inside.

He  _ needed  _ to find Katsura already.

He had no way of keeping track of how long he was in there, but it was long enough for his vision to be going blurry and for his skin to feel dried out, almost as though it was cracking. He was pretty sure he had a couple of burns, and his head was definitely bleeding from the piece of the ceiling coming down and hitting him. If only he knew how many floors the building had, then he would know how many he had left to search through. 

By the time he had looked through the second, third and fourth floor, he was starting to doubt himself. What if Katsura had been on one of the lower floors but he just missed him?

Cursing under his breath, Gintoki forced his body to move quicker.

His search grew desperate as he was nearing the last few rooms left on this level. He wouldn’t be able to search for much longer, not with how unstable the building was growing as the fire continued to burn. It wasn’t until he entered the second to last room and found him. 

Katsura was laying on his front with his head turned toward the doorway, his eyes were closed and Gintoki couldn’t tell whether his friend was breathing or not due to the body laying on top of him. He realized that whoever the guy on top of Katsura was, they were using their own body as a shield, protecting him. Gintoki hurried over toward them, checking the guys’ pulse first before checking for Katsura’s.

They were both still alive.

Gritting his teeth as he knew that he couldn’t take one of them at a time, the building would probably collapse before he made it back for the guy, Gintoki pulled the man toward him. He was worried about how his moving him would affect the guy’s injuries but he didn’t have the free time to try and find another method of carrying him. Gintoki pulled the man onto his back, using his kimono to tie the man to him, almost similar to the way a mother would tie her baby to her as they go out for a walk. The added weight almost sent him sprawling to the ground but he managed to catch himself at the last second. Seeing as he couldn’t count on Katsura to help walk out of this mess, Gintoki carefully picked him up bridal style, tucking Katsura’s head against his chest.

He’d get them out on his own. He had too.

His legs were trembling from walking down five flights of stairs while carrying two grown men, and really, it was a miracle that he hadn’t collapsed the moment they were outside. There was shouting and he could’ve sworn he heard his name called a few times but Gintoki ignored it in favor of moving further away from the still steadily burning building.

"Danna!"

Gritting his teeth, Gintoki just barely managed to stop himself from groaning out loud as three very familiar, very  _ annoying _ , Shinsengumi members rushed over toward him. Gintoki tightened his grip on Katsura, shifting so that his friend wouldn't be in their direct line of sight.

"...If he was disoriented when he passed out," Gintoki rasped, "It'll be best if I'm there when he wakes up… in case he starts panicking."

Kondo spoke before either Hijikata or Okita could say a word, "Okay. Okay. You head to the hospital with him then. We can't make an arrest right now anyway, and even if we were, we couldn't-wouldn't until they received medical attention."

Hijikata looked about ready to protest but stopped himself, noticing Kondo's pointed glance at the protective way Gintoki was holding Katsura against his chest. All of them, Gintoki included, knew that there was no way the Shinsengumi were arresting Katsura today. 

“...Whatever perm-head. Get yourself checked out while you’re there.”

“Danna do you want me to carry that guy?”

Shaking his head, Gintoki turned from the three of them, moving slowly and stumbling as he carried Katsura over to the nearest unoccupied Ambulance. It took two medics to undo the knot he tied to keep the man on his back, but once it came undone they quickly had the man carted off on a stretcher to another Ambulance while Gintoki laid Katsura in the one he was currently at.

At least he found the idiot in time.

He wasn't sure how the other members of the Jouishishi were doing. He tried to get them all out of the building in time but there was no way to tell whether or not they'd be okay. Gintoki knew that the Shinsengumi were sending all the injured to the nearest hospital, the same as Katsura. He could only hope that no more lives had been lost. He didn't want to be the one to tell Katsura about the few bodies he came across, he didn't know whether they were actual members of the Jouishishi or if they had been others that were caught up in the explosion.

Either way, their lives were lost and Katsura wouldn't take the news to people dying well. He never did.


End file.
